Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/547

 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTORY. 447 which might have been of service if we were dealing with buildings erected by any of the European races, but in China where the constructional arrangements are often of a very complicated nature which do not seem to have been regulated by natural laws, to evolve a plan from them is an almost impossible task. This is especially the case in the two most important circular buildings, viz.: the Temple of Heaven (the Ch'i-nien-tien Hall Heaven palace) and the Temple of the Year Star (Huang-Chiang-yen), in both of which the attempt to construct a circular domed building with materials which lend themselves only to rectangular structures has resulted in make- shifts of a very peculiar nature. The earliest authority on the subject of Chinese architecture was Sir W. Chambers, but the illustrations in his book, 1 probably executed by an artist who had never been in China, fail to convey a true conception of the buildings now better known from photographs such as those published by M. Ogawa. Further information is given in M. E. Fonssagrives' work on the Ts'ing tombs in Si-ling, 2 in single chapters devoted to the subject by Sir R. K. Douglas, 3 M. Paleologue 4 and Dr. S. J. Bushell, 5 in an essay on Chinese architecture by Mr. E. Ashworth, 6 and from papers communicated to learned societies such as those of J. Lamprey, 7 W. Simpson, 8 and F. M. Grattan. 9 The general conclusion, however, come to after consulting the above works and those by other writers on the subject is that the buildings are not such as we might expect to find among a people whose history and whose civilisation seems so exact a counterpart of that of Egypt. In both countries we have the same long succession of dynasties with dates, extending through 3000 or 4000 years, interrupted only by shepherd invasions which in both countries lasted about five centuries, when the words of Manetho are as literally applicable to the Taeping rebellion as they are to the overthrow of the Hyksos by the uprising of the native Egyptian races. During all this long period the same patriarchal form of government prevailed in both countries the king being not only the head of the secular government, but the chief priest of the people. Both people 1 ' Designs of Chinese Buildings,' etc. 1757. 2 Si-ling : Etude sur les tombeaux de 1'ouest de la dynastic des Ts'ing, par E. Fonssagrives. 'Annales du Musee Guimet.' 1907. 3 ' Society in China.' 1894. 4 ' L'art Chinois.' 1887. 5 'Chinese Art.' 1904. 6 'Detached Essays of the Archi- tectural Publication Society.' 1853. 7 ' Chinese Architecture,' in ' R.I.B. A. Transactions,' vol. xvii. (1866-67) PP- 157-178. 'The Architecture of China,' in 'R.I.B. A. Transactions,' vol. xxiv. (1873-74) pp. 33-50. 1 ' Chinese Architecture,' in ' R. I. B. A. Journal,' 3rd Series, vol. ii. (1896) pp. 37-64.